KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Peyton Manning threw two touchdown passes, Connor Barth was perfect on five field-goal attempts and the Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs 29-16 on Sunday night to remain alone in first place in the AFC West.

C.J. Anderson added 168 yards rushing and caught a 15-yard touchdown pass, and Demaryius Thomas also had a TD grab to help the Broncos (9-3) beat Kansas City for the sixth straight time. Alex Smith threw for 153 yards and two touchdowns for the Chiefs (7-5), the second of them to Jamaal Charles to make it 26-16 early in the fourth quarter. But Smith’s pass on the 2-point try fell incomplete, and the Broncos added another field goal to put the game away.

The victory kept Denver a game up on San Diego in the division race.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jarvis Williams had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and three other Murray State players reached double figures Sunday night in a 68-59 victory over Drake in the Challenge in Music City.

T.J. Sapp hit two 3-pointers during a 10-0 run to give Murray State a 54-48 lead with 5:46 to play. Chris Caird scored four points and Gary Ricks Junior split a pair of free throws to pull Drake within 56-53 with 4:27 left. The Racers then forced four turnovers while closing on a 12-6 run to seal it.

Williams was 7 of 12 from the field and 6 of 6 from the line. Justin Seymour had 14 points, Sapp scored 11 and Cameron Payne had 10 points for Murray State (3-4). Ricks Jr., scored 17 points, Caird 16 and Reed Timmer 13 for Drake (1-6).

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) – Seth Tuttle scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds on Sunday and Northern Iowa held off Richmond 55-50 to start a season 7-0 for the first time since 1963-64. Tuttle has reached double-figure scoring in 24 consecutive games. Junior guard Wes Washpun scored 16 for the Panthers (7-0), including four 3-pointers. Kendall Anthony led Richmond (2-3) with 12 points and Trey Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Northern Iowa used a 10-2 run to lead 14-4, but Richmond pulled to within four points, 14-10, after a 3 by Terry Allen. Washpun hit a 3 at 3:14 and the Panthers led 30-15 at halftime. The Spiders opened the second half with a 13-6 run and pulled to within four, 50-46, on a layup by Davis with 57 seconds to play. Matt Bohannon hit five free throws in the final 25 seconds to keep the Spiders at bay.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Bo Pelini has been fired as Nebraska’s football coach after a seven-year stint marked by his inability to restore the program to sustained national prominence and a number of embarrassing losses in big games.

Pelini extended his streak of winning at least nine games every year with a 37-34 overtime win at Iowa on Friday but he never finished a season with fewer than four losses or ended a conference-championship drought that dates to 1999.

Pelini, whose tenure spanned Nebraska’s transition from the Big 12 to Big Ten, was 66-27 and led the Cornhuskers to three league championship games.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Thomas van der Mars scored nine of his team-high 14 points in the opening minutes to spark Portland to a 79-51 win over Drake in the Challenge in Music City on Saturday. Portland, which beat Murray State, 64-61 in the opener Friday, jumped to a 24-11 start over the opening 10 minutes and led by 16 points at halftime, 38-22. The win gives the Pilots five straight to open the season, matching their best start under coach Eric Reveno, whose 2009-10 team got off to a 5-0 start and was ranked in the Top 25.

Portland got balanced scoring from its entire roster. Only one player failed to score against the Bulldogs while the team shot 50 percent from the floor (27 for 54). Gary Ricks, Junior scored 23 points to lead Drake (1-5), which lost to Valparaiso in the opener, 66-46.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Whitney Jennings scored 19 points, Samantha Logic added 16 and No. 17 Iowa turned back repeated charges by Gonzaga for a 79-67 win at the South Point Thanksgiving Classic Saturday night. Melisa Dixon added 13 points, Ally Disterhoft added 12 and Bethany Doolittle had 10 with 12 rebounds for the Hawkeyes (6-1). Sunny Greinacher paced Gonzaga with 16 points and Shelby Cheslek had 10 and 13 rebounds.

Gonzaga, down 11 with 1:29 left, closed within 70-67 after Emma Stach followed a steal to hit 1 of 2 free throws at 55 seconds. Jennings countered with two free throws 4 seconds later and then found Disterhoft with a full-court pass for a layup after a Bulldog miss for a 74-67 lead at 38 seconds.

Iowa finished 20 of 28 from the line, including 16 of 19 in the second half. The Hawkeyes made nine 3’s and forced Gonzaga into 21 turnovers, good for 24 points.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — David Johnson ran for 152 yards and three touchdowns, and had two receptions for 84 yards and a score, to lead Northern Iowa past Stephen F. Austin 44-10 to advance in the FCS Playoffs on Saturday night. Northern Iowa (9-4), which handed Illinois State (10-1) its only loss, will play the Redbirds in the second round on December 6th. Johnson scored on the first play from scrimmage, ripping off a 73-yard run.

Three plays later, Deiondre’ Hall returned an interception 24 yards, giving the Panthers first-and-goal from the 9. A 30-yard field goal by Michael Schmadeke made it 10-0 just 2 ½ minutes in and the rout was on. Stephen F. Austin (8-5) ran just 18 offensive plays for 34 yards in the opening quarter with as many three-and-outs and turnovers (two each) as first downs (the second coming on a defensive pass interference).

Schmadeke added field goals of 36 and 34 yards and Johnson tacked on a 1-yard touchdown run and Northern Iowa led 23-0 at the end of the first.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Backup quarterback Skyler Howard threw three TD passes, Rushel Shell ran for 146 yards and West Virginia beat Iowa State 37-24 Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak. Howard was 21 of 40 for 285 yards in his first career start in place of Clint Trickett, who missed the game with a concussion.

Mario Alford added two TD catches for West Virginia (7-5, 5-4 Big 12), which finished above .500 in the Big 12 for the first time. The Mountaineers (7-5, 5-4) erased an early 14-point deficit by closing the game on a 30-3 run. They went up 34-24 with 9:10 left on a 15-yard TD catch by Daikiel Shorts.

Sam Richardson threw for 275 yards and two TDs for Iowa State (2-9, 0-8), which lost its fifth straight.

w/ Chris Parks

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